The company has also pushed back move-in plans from 2015 to 2016.

Apple's new "spaceship" campus will require little more work—and resources—to build than originally thought. A new piece at Businessweek looks at the details of the new headquarters, noting that Apple has apparently pushed back its plans to move into "Campus 2" by a year thanks to ballooning construction costs. One of the last major projects presented by former CEO Steve Jobs, Apple is now reportedly trying to cut at least $1 billion off the total cost of the building, though there are no signs that Apple's planning to back out of the project.

Jobs had originally presented the plans for the UFO-like campus building to the Cupertino city council in 2011, and the company continued toward approval with feedback from the community throughout 2012. The 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped building was mapped out to have many of the same amenities as the original campus at 1 Infinite Loop, including a restaurant and fitness center, but the general public won't be able to visit.

The idea was to move into the new campus by the end of 2015, but current Apple CEO Tim Cook said during February's shareholder meeting that the move-in date has been pushed back to 2016. According to Businessweek, that's because the cost has gone from less than $3 billion to "nearly $5 billion," citing five separate unnamed sources familiar with the project. "If their consensus estimate is accurate, Apple’s expansion would eclipse the $3.9 billion being spent on the new World Trade Center complex in New York, and the new office space would run more than $1,500 per square foot—three times the cost of many top-of-the-line downtown corporate towers," wrote Businessweek.

Because of this, Apple is reportedly working with its lead architect to cut $1 billion before construction begins. The apparent reason for the rising cost is largely because of Jobs' vision for a high-end, slick building that's both environmentally advanced and sports the "fit and finish" Apple's products are known for.

The Businessweek piece offers numerous critiques of the design—including that of the expensive, European curved glass required for the outer windows—while simultaneously pointing out that Apple has the cash (and then some) to cover those costs. Still, even Cook acknowledged recently that the Campus 2 design may not end up matching exactly with Jobs' vision.

"Steve put a lot of love and attention into this before he passed away,” Cook said during the annual shareholder meeting. "Hopefully we’ve made it better during the design phase. We want to do this right."

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

The real factor driving up costs and introducing delays is the (ARM based, Thunderbolt interconnect) AI supercomputer in the basement running a simulation of Steve's neural network. When complete the 'Voice of the Visionary' will take the form of a gargantuan holographic head that hovers in the center of the HQ's dish/courtyard thing dispensing oversight and criticism to all who scurry below.

"Again this immortal corporation shall have an executive officer worthy of leading it!"

I don't care what people say, apple should go private and give the finger to all those so called investors. Those people currently bring no benefits to the company, all they are doing is causing more headaches for management to deal with. Apple is most profitable company in the world, but hey if you read all the news these days, they are on the brink of bankruptcy. Those people don't care about the company's long term health, all they care about is to make quick bucks and get out.

so sad... (that apple is Considering cost-cutting for their flagship office building) thus,

apple is doomed... because if you can't spend a fortune on your office building, it won't be long before cost cutting hits your product line due to the almighty profit margin...

apple has at least 137 billion in cash world-wide, So obviously they can afford it.Even if they have to import money from overseas at a 35% tax rate, do it.

is it really going to sink apple to spend 6 billion on their office building and surroundings?...

the Question they need to answer is "if Steve jobs was working right now, would he approve of the cost cutting?"

furthermore, Of the iconic buildings in the New York City were they they built to a cost-cutting mantra?... I think not. they were a monument to the ego of the CEO of that company... but,now how many people remember the ego of the CEO when they look at the building... i say none, instead they they Marvel at the architecture of the building... Architecture is expensive maybe even too expensive, but it will not kill Apple to make a "Titanium oxide" LOL "gold plated" office building...

I'm a bit disappointed by Apple's lack of ambition. Seen from the sky, their new HQ absolutely doesn't match their logo. I expected no less from Apple. A big Apple logo on Google Earth proving to the world and certainly to everyone out there in the future how powerful the company is.Plus, it should have a lot of lighting devices so it could glow at night and then perform like iMac power diodes when most of the workers are on vacation.

The real factor driving up costs and introducing delays is the (ARM based, Thunderbolt interconnect) AI supercomputer in the basement running a simulation of Steve's neural network. When complete the 'Voice of the Visionary' will take the form of a gargantuan holographic head that hovers in the center of the HQ's dish/courtyard thing dispensing oversight and criticism to all who scurry below.

"Again this immortal corporation shall have an executive officer worthy of leading it!"

... Apple is most profitable company in the world, but hey if you read all the news these days, they are on the brink of bankruptcy. ...

Apple did have some difficult days right before Steve Jobs came back, but the "brink of bankruptcy" reports caught hold of the group-mind of Apple haters, and never quite let go. The truth is, as you say, that Apple is wildly profitable, and nowhere near bankruptcy at this point... regardless of what the case might have been a couple of decades ago. Any Apple haters who are still marching out the tired old bankruptcy claims at this point in the game have some seriously questionable credibility.

... When complete the 'Voice of the Visionary' will take the form of a gargantuan holographic head that hovers in the center of the HQ's dish/courtyard thing dispensing oversight and criticism to all who scurry below. ...

I think they should just pay up. This building has the potential to be a cultural icon and architectural wonder. It's not often something this sort of thing gets built by an organization with Apple-level resources. I don't want to take a tour of the building some day and be told "This part here was supposed to be X but instead they just went with the conventional Y to save some money". (If they allow tours someday)

The real factor driving up costs and introducing delays is the (ARM based, Thunderbolt interconnect) AI supercomputer in the basement running a simulation of Steve's neural network. When complete the 'Voice of the Visionary' will take the form of a gargantuan holographic head that hovers in the center of the HQ's dish/courtyard thing dispensing oversight and criticism to all who scurry below.

"Again this immortal corporation shall have an executive officer worthy of leading it!"

"YOU THERE, IN ELEVATOR 4B! YOU'RE FIRED! SECURITY WILL MEET YOU AT THE LOBBY!"

I think they should just pay up. This building has the potential to be a cultural icon and architectural wonder. It's not often something this sort of thing gets built by an organization with Apple-level resources. I don't want to take a tour of the building some day and be told "This part here was supposed to be X but instead they just went with the conventional Y to save some money". (If they allow tours someday)

What statues are to government, corporate HQs are to businesses. To show "I made it" and to leave a "legacy" that generations will ask, "who stayed here"?

Which is why Nokia and AMD selling off their HQs was such a dramatic event. Same thing happen to SUN and other companies.

I'm a bit disappointed by Apple's lack of ambition. Seen from the sky, their new HQ absolutely doesn't match their logo. I expected no less from Apple. A big Apple logo on Google Earth proving to the world and certainly to everyone out there in the future how powerful the company is.Plus, it should have a lot of lighting devices so it could glow at night and then perform like iMac power diodes when most of the workers are on vacation.

Uh, how's it supposed to fly off into space and spin around to simulate gravity with that big divot on one side? Besides, $6B wouldn't even begin to cover the structure necessary to support a visually disconnected leaf during launch.You have to be realistic here.

I understand that curved glass panes are more costly, but why do they need to ship them halfway round the world?

Probably because there are not that many industries able to manufacture gigantic curved glass panels of the quality required for the project.I remember the opposite polemic when they rebuilt the French national library, and had to modify the project because French industries weren't able to provide gigantic glass panels meeting the specifications. For a company is much easier to pick quality over nationalism, and that's the right choice for them.

I'm a bit disappointed by Apple's lack of ambition. Seen from the sky, their new HQ absolutely doesn't match their logo. I expected no less from Apple. A big Apple logo on Google Earth proving to the world and certainly to everyone out there in the future how powerful the company is.Plus, it should have a lot of lighting devices so it could glow at night and then perform like iMac power diodes when most of the workers are on vacation.

Uh, how's it supposed to fly off into space and spin around to simulate gravity with that big divot on one side? Besides, $6B wouldn't even begin to cover the structure necessary to support a visually disconnected leaf during launch.You have to be realistic here.

Does anyone else think that people might be just a little bit angry that the parking garage is so far away from the main office building? This is the US after all...

And one more reason why we have an obesity problem in this country. I remember a PBS documentary of one company trying to fight obesity by engineering its campus to promote walking, including setting up meetings a distance away. They were adamant that the exercise made for more alert employees, less stressed, and that such inefficiency had on the contrary an overall positive impact on the productivity of the workers. I'm sure the circular design of the Apple campus will likewise require more walking even once inside the building. My guess it isn't an accident, Jobs seems like the type who would consider Bloombergesque measures to fight an expanding waistline.

From reading other articles, I got the impression that part of the price inflation was due to material costs - insisting on specific varieties of maple to be used, and only the heart of the main tree trunks, and so on.

Don't forget - there is more than just the building. They have to sink a street under the new campus, re-route others, demolish many existing large structures, and re-grade vast areas. There will be a large circular mound of earth and trees some distance outside the building, to prevent any direct sight of the building from "off-campus" (harder to spy on them if you can't see or ping the building).

Uh, how's it supposed to fly off into space and spin around to simulate gravity with that big divot on one side? Besides, $6B wouldn't even begin to cover the structure necessary to support a visually disconnected leaf during launch.You have to be realistic here.

The apples leaf docks with the main structure to fill the divot before takeoff and once in orbit it can detach and becomes a shuttle for return trips to Earth. You can see the mockup below (front view):

Spoiler: show

There are also plans for omnipresent computer system that makes decisions based upon what Steve would do. It's like HAL, but it glows blue and is made by Foxconn. You can see the human interface system below:

There are reports in some places that they are thinking of going into the large screen TV market. There may be a cash mountain, but they can evaporate it in no time given they really put their minds to it.

"If their consensus estimate is accurate, Apple’s expansion would eclipse the $3.9 billion being spent on the new World Trade Center complex in New York, and the new office space would run more than $1,500 per square foot—three times the cost of many top-of-the-line downtown corporate towers," wrote Businessweek.

Although I concede that both structures will be built to highly modern specs and regulations and whatnot, something tells me that the costs going into the Apple structure will allow for significantly more "bells and whistles" than what is being put into the new WTC structures. So comparing the 2 projects is like, well, apples and oranges. Excuse the pun.